To better understand the current state of digital advertising today, Digiday and Rubicon Project partnered to survey nearly 400 US-based media professionals, including media buyers and planners, for the 2014 State of the Industry: Digital Advertising Report.

The goal was to measure satisfaction with the automation solutions currently available and to provide a clear preview of where trends will be driven by buyer demand in the future.

In results, the study offers a candid look into the digital ad ecosystem. Despite the early promise of automation, it reveals that the sheer number of systems and technology platforms involved in a single buy today — and the resulting costs in both time and fees to execute campaigns — have resulted in a marketplace that is nowhere near fully-automated.

At the same time, demand for automation is at an all time high. Nearly 9 out of 10 surveyed believe the marketplace needs a guaranteed direct order automation platform to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce costs and increase overall return on investment. Fully 68 percent believe that there is either a strong or very strong industry demand for a unified, intuitive and easy-to-use platform that includes end-to-end services, from discovery to insights and optimization.